


In Memoriam

by koalathebear



Category: iZombie (TV)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-02
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-05-24 07:14:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6145771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalathebear/pseuds/koalathebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Although both physicians, while Liv had chosen surgery as her specialty, Ravi, for reasons still inexplicable to her, had chosen a branch of medicine devoted to the scientific investigation of sudden, unexpected, violent, suspicious, or unnatural deaths.  For some people it might have been because they simply didn't like being around people, but Ravi seemed pleasant and sociable enough ... He was articulate and performed well in social situations.  Liv could only conclude that her boss enjoyed solving mysteries and enjoyed the intellectual challenge that his work involved - uninterrupted by the peskiness of engaging with a living patient.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Memoriam

**Author's Note:**

> While poking around at the website of the [King County Medical Examiner's Office](http://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/examiner.aspx), I came across details of the [King County Indigent Remains Program](http://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/examiner/indigent-remains.aspx). It provides cremation and a proper burial for individuals who are indigent and who have died in King County. This program serves people whose families either could not be located or could not provide for the proper disposition of remains.
> 
> There are so many articles about it. Just Google "King County" and "indigent". Some articles here:
> 
> [137 unclaimed, indigent remains buried in communal Renton plot: Program provides burial services for people that die in King County, go unclaimed](http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/137-unclaimed-indigent-remains-buried-in-5762810.php) and also [King County's indigent, homeless remembered at graveside ceremony](http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/154-King-County-indigent-homeless-remembered-3632798.php).
> 
> Sobering but oddly beautiful stuff.

"Still want me to cover your shift next Wednesday, Ravi?" Dr Wen Xu asked casually as he picked up his bag and slung it over one bony shoulder at the end of his shift. The thin and gaunt forensic pathologist was somewhat pale and wraith-like. To be honest, with his sunken eyes, pallor and mournful expression, he frequently looked more zombie-like than Liv herself did. Notwithstanding his dour and mournful exterior, he was a very pleasant man who enjoyed calligraphy, air hockey and a somewhat strange love of obscure Appalachian folk music - much to the horror of his fellow shift-mates. The most senior ranking member of a shift had the privilege of picking the music that played in the morgue.

Musical tastes aside, Liv was always pleased that Ravi as the Chief Medical Examiner had responsibility for working out the shifts and always scheduled her to share his shift rather than that of any of the other forensic pathologists. It wasn't simply the fact that Ravi knew her secret. He was just much better company than the others - funny, supportive and a wealth of knowledge both useful and useless. Most of the staff who worked at the morgue had a quirky sense of humor - it was a survival mechanism that was vital in order to cope with some of the darker elements of the work. Ravi's personality however was tempered with a puckish gentleness and kindness.

Although both physicians, while Liv had chosen surgery as her specialty, Ravi, for reasons still inexplicable to her, had chosen a branch of medicine devoted to the scientific investigation of sudden, unexpected, violent, suspicious, or unnatural deaths.

For some people it might have been because they simply didn't like being around people, but Ravi seemed pleasant and sociable enough ... He was articulate and performed well in social situations. Liv could only conclude that her boss enjoyed solving mysteries and enjoyed the intellectual challenge that his work involved - uninterrupted by the peskiness of engaging with a living patient.

Liv did still miss her days of tending to the living. Those days were far behind her now and when she thought of what might have been, it always did cause her more than a moment's pain. Nonetheless, there wasn't any point in dwelling on the past. Not only was working at the morgue a way for her to address her very particular dietary requirements, the infection risk to patients was far too high and it would have been unconscionable for her to have continued treat living patients.

"If you don't mind - that'd be great," Ravi told the other doctor. "And I'll owe you, Wen - just let me know when you want me to cover your shift," Ravi offered.

"What's happening next Saturday?" Liv asked curiously. It wasn't like Ravi to ask anyone to cover his shifts. Something of a workaholic he was more than happy to frequent the morgue even on his days off, in fact he preferred it because people were less likely to mess with his experiments. The rest of the morgue staff were well used to being told to keep their mitts off Chakrabarti's experiments with rats.

"Nothing, just got a thing," Ravi answered her unexpansively, immediately piquing Liv's interest.

*

"Are you and Ravi playing video games next Wednesday afternoon?" Liv asked Major in passing and he shook his head.

"Nah, Ravi says he's got something on. But the next week ..." He looked predatory, cracking his knuckles with grim determination. "Victory will be mine ..." he promised and Liv rolled her eyes. She'd learned long ago that it was a mistake to use phrases like: "it's just a game" when talking to the two Kidults in her life.

In the end, her curiosity became too much for her and she fell into step beside Dr Wen Xu as he was leaving the building one day. He looked a bit startled to see her. "Dr Moore," he greeted her.

"Call me Liv," she told him with a bright smile. She didn't tend to speak with him much. She could tell that her pallor and youthfulness threw him off.

"OK," he told her warily.

"What's happening next Wednesday?" she asked "It's not like Ravi to ask people to swap shifts with him."

Dr Wen smiled. "Google the 'King County Indigent Remains Program'," he told her gently.

*

Liv stood at a distance as she watched the group walking through the Mt. Olivet Cemetery to stand beside a copse of poplar trees in the large cemetery. Ravi looked uncharacteristically dignified and sober in a dark suit, his beard trimmed and not a single hair out of place. He stood beside a number of equally serious-looking men and women who appeared to be of various religious denominations and also another man whom she vaguely recognised as an official from the department.

Ravi glanced up and surprise appeared in his dark eyes as he caught a glimpse of her. He waved her over and after a moment's hesitation she crossed the neatly trimmed grass to come and stand beside him.

Google had turned up the answers she had sought, leading her back to the King County website itself. The King County Indigent Remains program provided cremation and a proper burial for individuals who were indigent and who had died in King County. This program served people whose families either could not be located or could not provide for the proper disposition of remains.

Based on the information on the website, she had learned that decedents in the program were cremated, and then stored in a secure location at the King County Medical Examiner's Office until a ceremony and burial were held, usually every two years or so. The decedents were buried in individual containers in shared plots, and records were kept for each one so that they could be recovered at a later point in time if a family member made a request.

The ceremony that Ravi was attending was to bury the remains of 120 individuals with King County providing burial rites, prayers from clergy, dedication of a plaque and even music. There was a small group of musicians standing by the grave site.

" _Gone but not forgotten these people of King County, 2016_ ," read the simple granite stone, placed adjacent to a similar marker from the 2014 ceremony.

"Did you know someone?" Ravi asked her, glancing at the flowers she held in her hand awkwardly. "Yes and no. You?" She'd eaten the brains of a few of them ... and also conducted the autopsies on quite a few of them.

"Yes and no," he also replied with a wry smile. Most of the individuals being buried had come through the Medical Examiner's Office in the first instance and in his mind he had 'known' them.

She listened as prayers for them were said in English, Spanish, Italian, Hebrew and Chinese. An effort had been made to remember them using the languages that they had spoken in life.

"Would you like to say a few words now Dr. Chakrabarti?" one of the others in the group asked him quietly and Ravi nodded.

"Come up with me?" Ravi asked Liv who looked a bit startled but then after a moment's hesitation, stepped up with him.

Ravi stood erect at the podium next to the gravesite. "In my job, I confront death every day. I see how frightened we are of death… how the only thing that bring us comfort from death is the love of our family … our friends - or in our spiritual beliefs and community. But today, we stand by the grave of 120 fellow humans who died without anyone willing or able to take possession of their bodies. But they have not been forsaken and they will not be forgotten. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office has taken responsibility for them. It is my personal desire to ensure that from the time that they enter our care until they are buried that these people are handled with the most dignity and respect possible. Mt. Olivet Cemetery has provided this space for their remains and all of you who came here today, come with loving hearts to honour the people we are burying."

Most of the cremated remains of the men and women being interred had fought a war against poverty, homelessness, addiction, abuse, mental illness, ignorance and indifference. When it had come time for them to be buried, either no family member could be found or no family member could find the means to pay for their loved one's interment. Seventy-odd mourners had come to the cemetery to mark the passing of 120 people - known and unknown and Liv stared with curious and wondering eyes at the motley crowd of people.

Ravi pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. "Alice Anderson. She was a mother who certainly enjoyed a drink or two." That was an understatement. Liv had never seen a worse case of alcoholic liver disease.

"Daryl Binos. Judging by the state of his arteries - he enjoyed a good meal."

Liv looked a little startled. "All 120?" she whispered and Ravi shrugged.

"If not me, then who?" he asked her.

Liv realised then, more than any other time why this man had chosen this profession. There was his attention to detail and the fact that he was fighting for justice for voiceless victims... but there was also the humanity of being the only person who would speak for these indigent dead ...

"Liu Bo," Liv spoke up next. Unexpectedly. "She had a lovely daughter whom she hadn't seen for many years but she missed very much ..." Startled, Ravi shot her a warm look before continuing.

"Katerina Chekhov ... loved Celtic tattoos ..."

120 names. There were a handful of John and Jane Does about whom they knew nothing except their physical condition.

"John Doe #5… had a perfect set of teeth and never had a filling in his life."

They exchanged glances. John Doe #5's body had come in as skeletal remains and there had been little for them to discern from the remains.

"Annamarie diCosta," Liv spoke next, as she stared at the list in Ravi's hand. "Found frozen to death at a Seattle bus stop. She was a grandmother who loved flowers and music - she was the only person left in her family ..." She could still remember the strange juxtaposition of Annamarie's brain. The incredible warmth of her life - the love and fondness of her family … and then the cold loneliness of the last minutes of her death, the bitter cold and fear… "I wish I could have known her in life," Liv added.

"Erika Soong. She was a talented writer who loved books, cats and had an art history degree from Kent State University. We'll never know why she was homeless and alone at the end," Ravi announced soberly.

When all the names had been read, the musicians sang "Who Will Sing For Me" and "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" by the graveside and Liv lay her bunch of flowers by the memorial plaque.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming here?" Liv asked him and Ravi shrugged. 

"Didn't know you'd be interested … you've got a lot of things in your life to worry about…"

Liv reached out and put her hand Ravi's. He looked down at her, very startled. "I like that you care about these people …" she told him and leaned against him, staring down at the plaque.

"They were always real people to me, Liv … I held their organs in my hands, wrote down their details … cleaned away their blood and wondered who they were - but then after you came along ... and you started telling me about their lives … their dreams ... and how they felt at the end when they died - they became even more real. Especially Donald Hernandez with his irritable bowel syndrome."

Liv blanched at her memory of one of the most vivid brains she had eaten. "The poor, poor man …"

"Gone but never forgotten," Ravi agreed and his hand tightened around hers, his eyes serious despite the levity of their words. "Thank you," he told her with a smile in his eyes.

"No - thank _you_ ," she told him very seriously and they walked back to the entrance hand in hand.

**fin**


End file.
